a mother stabbed, her baby boy kidnapped, ripped from her arms. he has been found safe, a woman has been arrested but instead of going home with mom the infant was taken away from her by the state of tennessee. her kids, all four of them are in foster care. plus this, a respected judge with a promising future accused of having sex with inmates. that's right. on trial for trading sexual favors for leniency. male inmates forced to strip and spanked in his private chambers. call in, 1-877-tell-hln.

you can e-mail us cnn.com/primenews or text us at hlntv. start your message with the word prime. your chance to be heard. hello. i'm mike galanos. last week we thought the worse. a baby just days old, kidnapped, ripped from his mother's arms. she gets stabbed. we were hoping and praying yairo carillo was okay. he is okay. cops found him 85 miles away from his home. behind bars a woman, tammy silas. you would think the beap would be home with his mom. but the state of tennessee has taken yair carillo away, put him and her other kids in foster care. brian wright, a detective for

the prosecutor's office. we are thankful yair is okay. why is he and the three other siblings not with woman. >> all the state would tell me is it was not related to the kidnapping and they put the baby and the other three infants in the care of a foster family because of unrelated events with regard to this situation. not related to the kidnapping at all. all the kids are out of the family's house and it is not because of the baby being taken from his mother's arms a week ago. >> okay. it is not, to be clear, mom is recovering? >> that is my understanding. the state cited privacy laws. a spokesman for the state department of child services said it is not because of the kidnapping. he said that the caseworker saw

a set of circumstances they thought in the best interest of the children to come into foster care. what that is, i don't know yet. >> brian, what reasons what do you think they are seeing here? >> there could be a lot of different things. there could be reasons that have nothing to do with the abduction. it could have been the same result if the baby had not been abducted and youth and family services saw some conditions that weren't good. i don't think there is any way to speculate at this point. >> let's talk about yair, kevin, baby found okay? >> he is fine, unharmed in ardmore, alabama. fbi and local law enforcement swooped in and got the baby. baby was briefly reunited with mom and the family and saturday they had a family meeting and the baby and the other children were taken to a foster care family by the state. >> how did they track this lady

down? >> they used a cell phone. they were able to determine that the mom, this is according to the warrant, that the cell phone number led the authorities to the suspect. tammy renee silas. they said it was a secellular phone number was used for the rental car. she was charged saturday with the kidnapping. she went before a judge saturday and likely will be coming back to nashville to face the charges. there is an extradition hearing that will likely happen in alabama. >> brian, great police work, huh? >> they did a great job. the important thing is exigency. it was good police work. >> let me stay with you, brian.

it sounds like your basic case of a woman wanting a child, had the boyfriend, told boyfriend i'm going to adopt, something months in the planning? >> yeah. typically we find these nonfamily abduction of infants come from females and come from females who can't have a child for the purpose of keeping a mate, a boyfriend or husband. she did what we see in a lot of these cases. she formulated a plan and prepped her mate, in this case her boyfriend, with a cover story she was going to adopt a baby and targeted somebody. she set her plan in motion. she was typical for what we see also. once she had the baby she appeared happy and like a very capable mother. it is very, very typical. i think what the police are going to try to do in proving their case is get credit card records, did she buy infant items and cribs in anticipation

of having this kid before she even committed the crime. >> yeah. okay, kevin, back to you on this. do we know how long tammy silas allegedly targeted maria garullo? >> not that i know of. the fbi is still working on the investigation. they are not done by a long shot. they have more work to do. the question remains who the woman that has been identified as fbi as being the attacker, who she was talking to at the scene of the crime. whenever the mother was stabbed and the baby taken from the arms, the attacker spoke in spanish something to the effect of it over and i've done it. they haven't identified that person. the fbi is looking sbit. >> we have to leave it there. coming up, shocking charges

in the trial of a well-respected judge. herman thomas accused of having sex with male inmates in exchange for leniency, forcing them to strip, spanking them. thomas says he was trying to mentor these men.

>> welcome back. right now a former judge is on trial accused of forcing male inmates to have sex with him. judge herman thomas ordered them to strip for a spanking or be thrown back in jail. the judge exchanged sex for leniency. these are serious charges,

sodomy, sex abuse, kidnapping, assault, extortion. 15 inmates are ready to testify. court records show investigators found physical evidence from an inmate in the judge's office. we welcome back robin sachs, judge david young. judge, let me start with you on this one. quite the story. how difficult will it be to prosecute a judge and do it with what are we talking about, 15 felons here? >> not only 15 felons, but you have forensic evidence. it seems if you are going to prosecute a judge you better have your "i"s dotted and "t"s crossed. there is so much evidence it is almost unbelievable to read. >> robin, do you think it will be difficult to prosecute or the evidence is so overwhelm something. >> clearly the evidence is overwhelming. this is something the public is not going to like to see.

seeing a judge acting, corrupt, extortion. a jury is going to be looking with open arms at convicting someone in a place of power. >> let's listen to the judge's attorney bob clarke zeroing in on the fact they are going to use convicted felons to nail this judge. >> they want to bring out convicted felons and say evil things about the judge they gave them 30 years, damn, that would be a shock, wouldn't it? >> no surprise there, judge david. is that his only argument and is that a good one for a jury? >> i think it is the only thing he has. when the dna evidence comes back there was dna of a defendant in the judge's chambers you can't ask for better evidence than that. juries have a low tolerance, as robin said, for corrupt public officials. sometimes they get confused or sympathetic. these allegations there is no

sympathy by these jurors. they are going to be disgusted like i was when i heard what this judge had done. >> the first accusation back in 2001. that was it. i'll help you with a case in exchange for sex. those lawsuits dropped. it doesn't seem he was red flagged at that point. why do you think that? do you think folks said that is a felon talking? we'll move on. >> that happens all the time we discredit the words of a felon. you are going to see these felons coming forward, admitting, they are going to do the brick the boil type approach. i'm a felon. i did these bad things and i will tell you about those bad things openly. plus the embarrassment of some of the sexual acts they had to go through. >> judge david -- go ahead. >> i think you are going to see those individuals got sentence "x" and people that did not have

sex with this judge got sentence "y." they may be convicted felons but why did this guy get two years and the other guy got 30 years. there is something rotten in denmark. >> he is taking over cases without the approval of other judges, i guess, to get at these guys. how does that happen? >> well, sometimes judges are overenthusiastic about their job. they are excited to be a judge. he was a first-year judge when this started happening. when you see what he has done, it is amazing a red flag was not raised sooner. i served on the judicial qualifications commission in florida for several years. sometimes inmates make these allegations they are brushed aside as being nonsensical, when you had up with, two, three, the jqc should have had an investigation. this guy was a terror.

>> you look at the way we are piecing this together. the judge would check these guys out of jail and have "private meetings." he was mentoring them. is that the norm? >> no. that is a definite red flag. any public official that takes too much of an interest in any one particular person or case, you have to look at it in comparison to the other cases and what is the culture in that community? there are great judges who take an interest. you find removal orders for a noncourt date and yet an inmate ve moved from custody and brought in to a courtroom you have to wonder why is that happening and put these together, unfortunately, you start seeing it after the fact. >> judge david, being a judge yourself, i'll pose the same one to you. you look in the community. it sounds like this judge was

using it as a positive. he cared for these inmates. >> if he cared why did he do it in his chambers with no one around. i had a drug program and i had them come before me in a public forum. you can care but it is the way you care. bringing someone into chambers, horrendous. absolutely horrendous. >> i'm sure you are stating the feelings of many of our viewers, robin, judge, we appreciate it. coming up, a man accused of killing his ex-wife's family. a brutal killing in a small illinois town. now the ex-son-in-law, he is the accused. call in 1-877-tell-hln.

welcome back. finally an arrest in a brutal family murder. family of five killed in their

illinois home. a small town. all savagely beaten to death. a dad, stay home mom, three children and a toddler was beaten, sole survivor. we are finding out the prime suspect is a former son-in-law. christopher harris was once married to an adult daughter, nicole g. she is the myspace page. on again, off again relationship. they recently had a baby together. now she is defending him on her myspace blog. we'll take your calls 1-877-tell-hln. brian reich, detective. back with us ryan denham, at the bloomington pent graph. what making authoritying believe it is christopher harris here? >> they have some kind of strong forensic evidence they have talked about.

haven't been specific. also he was the owner of a gray pickup truck that is somewhat similar to the one seen in the small town the night before the bodies were found. those two things are pointing police toward him. >> did he go to the funeral of the family? >> he did. he visited the lone survivor in the hospital with his ex-wife. >> wow. we look to those closest. we are talking about a small illinois town, 200 people in this small community. we knew it was somebody the family knew. it still shocks us when it is a family member like this. >> a couple of indicators that is going to tell you somebody close to them. the blunt force trauma, the passion that was involved. typically when you see blunt force trauma and the type of violent struggle that was involved in this type of homicide you have to say it is someone close to them, someone

that had a personal vendetta, some type of grudge. >> okay. >> i think the evidence is going to be overwhelming. if they have dna evidence there is sure to be hair, fibers against this guy. >> if they are on again, off again relationship, the easy motive you could see is they just had a baby. 8-week-old son. >> right. >> maybe they are getting back together the family disapproves. could that lead to rage like this? >> you don't know with these guys. this guy looks disorganized in the way in which he did it. it didn't seem like he brought a particular weapon into the scene. it wasn't very planned. he left a lot of evidence. looked like he was crazed. it could be rage that was building up. after it was over he tried to make some semblance, attend the funeral and go see one of the survivors. it is hard to speculate.

but it is something personal against someone in that family. >> why would he do this? >> we talked to his mother who can speak to his relationship with rick gee. they got along pretty well. he worked for rick gee's stepfather in a construction business. he has been in and out of that house for years. in terms of physical evidence, him being in the house would be normal. >> if we speculate there was angst about them getting back together we are not seeing that? >> not from the writings of nicole and chris on myspace and facebook. >> we will hit on that when we come back. the adult daughter of those killed, the ex-wife of the accused, speaking on myspace defending this guy. we'll take your calls at 1-877-tell-hln. 

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. a toy company is coming out with a homeless doll. cute little gwenn. let's face it. there is nothing cute about being homeless. this doll costs $95 and not one dime is going to the homeless. i'm all for teaching our kids about poift and the plight of the homeless, shouldn't some or most of the ghoun to the homeless? 1-877-tell-hln. i want to hear from you on this story as well. david letterman. the word is out, he let it out, national tv about his sexcapades

with people who worked for him. we are learning about the young women he has reportedly been with. this started as an alleged extortion plot. joe halderman accused of blackmailing letterman, wanting $2 million. the associated press says he got the information from his ex-girlfriend's diary. stephanie birkitt is letterman's assistant. multiple sources say birkitt had a sexual relationship with letterman. we have not confirmed that. listen to halderman's attorney defending his client. >> david letterman didn't give his side of the story. he gave what he wanted the public to know. he wanted to get ahead of the story. he is a master at manipulating

audiences. to think david letterman gave the entire story is simply wrong. >> what do you have to say about this? we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. joining me carol jenkins, president of the women's media center. robin sachs, a former prosecutor. all right, robin, you hear from joe halderman's attorney. from what we are hearing halderman does not look good and looks guilty. what could exonerate him in some way? >> well, right now the only thing that i think that halderman could be holding back is there was some sort of unfair advantage, some favor, some credit to a sexual harassment claim that people have not wanted to come forward with because of letterman's place and authority. there could be some sort of sexual harassment claim that could be coming. that is the only thing he could possibly have brewing. everything else is stacked

against him. robin, i'll stay with you, i will get carol in. as far as letterman, this is not good for him. but he's made the good moves, it would seem. as he goes on and gets ahead of the story. we are hearing david letterman apologized in the taping for tonight's show to his wife and any women on the show implicated by the scandal. so he is out in front of it and that is what you have to do in a case like the? >> that's right. being transparent are the words of the century. manning up. that is what we want to see polanski doing, everybody doing. letterman did that to his credit. i don't think there is a person in recent history who had a sex scandal and called it like it is, embarrassed or not and took responsibility. that is going to help in the court of public opinion. >> carol jenkins, let's let you

in on this. transparency is what we want, but i don't think david letterman is in the clear. >> i don't. i think his announcement was so bizarre. it is one of the most bizarre episodes in modern media history to have someone come out in the middle of what most people thought was a joke and talk about having sex with his staffers. he would have been much better off had he had a news conference and done something serious. to try to step forward and bamboozle his way with his fans, hundreds of people in the audience and millions more watching who were caught laughing at a very serious story. so, you know, david letterman did not get out ahead of any story because all the talk now is about, wait a minute, did i just laugh about a boss having sex with his female staffers more than once? so that i think, no, i don't buy into this, this was a great

public relations move. i think it was a disaster. >> we want to hear from you. 1-877-tell-hln. carol, you mentioned it. this is the announcement from david letterman. i was baffled when i heard the applause and laughter. >> the creepy stuff was that i have had sex with women who work for me on this show. now, my response to that is, yes, i have. i have had sex with women who work on this show. and would it be embarrassing if it were made public? perhaps it would. perhaps it would. especially for the women. >> okay. there it is again. david letterman making the joke there. carol, do you think, was the audience cheering his behavior or caught off guard? >> i think the audience was

completely baffled. the result of that was making fun of as far as i could tell all young women in the work place. this was a joke. extended laughter and i'm not so much -- we are not the morality police here, the legal police here, we are talking about the media exposure of this particular kind of story and other young women in the work place who is going to stand up for them? he released a statement saying he has broken no rules of his production company. but in many work places david letterman would have been fired on the spot. if there is a relationship between two people in some offices one has to leave. i think david letterman has not done us any favor except to open up this issue and the discussion of work place ethics and what bosses can and cannot do and what young women if they choose to have these relationships it seems has happened in this case

that is one thing. what about the -- we don't know, the untold numbers of women placed in a ridiculous situation afraid not to say yes and the other women are afraid their careers are going to be sidetracked. it is unwholesome. david letterman is a grown man. >> david letterman is a boss. he is in his 50s. they are in their 20s. are there policies against that in many work places. >> there are. in many work places there are. you have a situation with a subordinate you have a situation where it could be perceived as sexual harassment. this is not a sexual harassment claim right now. what this is an extortion claim. this wasn't the women talking about sexual harassment this was david letterman named as the

victim in a criminal action. i think my tune and other people's tune would be different in terms of what happened if this had been a sexual harassment claim but we haven't seen that. >> what about viewers out there? what about female viewers? 58% of david leatherman's office female. will some turn away? will you? call in, 1-877-tell-hln.

if you came here tonight for sex with a talk show host you've got the wrong studio. i'm sorry. what is going on? first conan hit his head then somebody tries to extort money from letterman. i'm so glad i'm out of late night. >> jay leno taking advantage, taking a jab at david letterman. we are taking your calls. whether or not you have a problem with what has gone on. the alleged blackmail plot, david letterman admitting he has sex with female employees. >> clarence, are you all right? >> caller: yes. my comment is i don't believe david letterman's show should be pulled off the air. i think mr. letterman owes the general public an apology because this appears to be

consensual. these young ladies were not underage. they knew what they were doing. he didn't force anybody to do anything against their will. >> let's get another call in. sheila in indiana. your thoughts here. >> caller: hi, hon. i feel the same way. he was not married. i think this is ridiculous. to take him off the air would be more ridiculous. >> that is not an issue. he is the boss. he is probably at the time in his mid 50s. they are in their mid 20s. >> the girls knew. >> they knew huh? >> they knew what he was and what he does. >> carol, there are a couple of pro-letterman viewers. do you think there is going to be backlash as far as viewers turning away? >> as we heard, there are letterman fans who will always be fans and this will not deter

them. it is so interesting of us to be concerned about his ratings. that is the first thing we think about. what is going to happen to his show when our concern at the women's media center is what about other young women in work places being taken advantage of, perhaps, by their bosses. what message does this give to them? and how can they feel strong about themselves that they can report it that when david letterman has seemingly even though we understand he has apologized, seemingly made light of that. it is not funny. >> it isn't funny. i agree with you. robin, do you see that here? it is made light of. come on, work place sexual harassment is not a funny topic. it is not what we are dealing with, we are in the in between zone. >> it is not a funny topic. it must be treated seriously.

when i looked at his video this shows you reasonable mind cans differ, when i watched david letterman, he looked strained and pained when he made these admissions. he did not look like he was joking around. the audience took it as a joke. but what better forum than opening it up to your own audience where you don't have to worry about the spin. i don't think he made it a laughing matter. >> you go to your own audience you are going to get laughter and applause. okay. carol, robin, great conversation. want to hear from you. there is a new doll called little gwen. she is homeless yet the doll costs 95 bucks a shot. not one dime is going to help the homeless. am i missing something here? call in. 1-877-tell-hln.

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. there is outrage over a pricey doll. gwen, a new addition to the american girl story. her dad walked out, mom lost her job. g gwen is homeless. price tag 95 bucks. not a dollar goes to help the homeless. let me start here. the first question is, well, is the money used to help the homeless. the answer is no. >> right. what permg of the proceeds might go to a homeless charity. the answer is nothing so far. the issue is and there is a bit of irony pointed out by

columnists saying you have this $95 doll. a homeless person could not afford that for their child. the company is promoting a message of compassion and tolerance through the stories that come along with dolls like this. gwen, her parents falling on hard times. a lot of kids can appreciate that and empathize with that. father leaves, she and her mother are evicted from their apartment. they are living in their car until they get help. some people are saying this exploiting this idea of homelessness. a lot of people reacting. let's go the videotape. people reacting to this doll. >> it is actually really disturbing and that is not the american dream. i thought these were american girl dolls. >> i think it is truthful. i think it is right on. >> to me, this is a very cute girl and there is nothing cute

about being homeless. i have a problem with american girl making money off the plight of being homeless. >> i want to read you what the company american girl has issued. since 1986 we have addressed a wide range of important social impact that have had significant impact on the lives of girls and women. we will focus on prevents pure aggression we are continuing our partnership with homemade america to help the homeless. they say they have given $120,000 since they parted with this charity. they are helping the cause not with proceeds from the doll. >> have they had a direct response from people why not at least 50% of the -- if it cost 95 bucks, 50 bucks go to the

homeless. >> not yet. >> do you think that is change something. >> i think people are blogging and talking about it. the doll has been out since january. because of this column that came out a couple of weeks ago that proceeds aren't going to help folks. >> it almost cuts it two ways. that's the first topic we want to hit on. then we'll hit further, is this the good way to teach kids about the plight of the homeless or not. can you stick around with us? >> yes. >> joining us to talk about, the president and ceo of the los angeles mission. also of beyond shelter. and brooke, stick around as well. we want to hear from you as well. 1-877-tell-hln is the number. tonya, what's your beef with gwen and the way this is packaged here? >> well, first of all, i think it's really indicative of what's going on in america today, that they even created a homeless doll. but i think there's a fine line that can be crossed when you do something like this.

there is the risk of stereotyping. and also, there's the risk of teaching people that homelessness is an inevitable fact of life in america. it's not okay to have a homeless child in this country today. it's not okay. >> got you. >> and it's not okay for a doll to be homeless. >> herb smith, you think this is a good idea, about 30 seconds? is this the best way to teach our kid about the homeless, the plight of those suffering poverty? >> my comment related to the fact that if a person's going to buy a $95 doll in the first place, it is an appropriate way and culturally appropriate context to teach young women about the economic issues in this country. not that i'm in favor of the $95 doll. >> right. okay. good point on that. let's take a quick break. we want to hear from you 1-877-tell-hln.

a mother, stabbed, her baby boy kidnapped from her arms. he's been found safe. instead of the little guy going home with mom, the infant has been taken away from her again. this time by the state of tennessee. right now, not only the little baby, but her three other kids are in foster care. we want to know why. a respected judge with a promising future accused of having sex with inmates? that's right. on trial for trading sexual favors for line yensy. allegedly the judge spanked someone in his private chambers. we'll take your calls,

1-877-tell-hln is the number. e-mail us, cnn.com/primenews. or you can text us at hlntv, just start your message with the word prime. it's your chance to be heard. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com welcome once again. hour number two of "prime news." i'm mike galanos. we thought the worst, a baby just days old, kidnapped, ripped from its mother's arms. the mom stabbed, eight, nine times. we were praying that he was found alive and well. well, thankfully that's the news. incredible news, he is okay. cops found him safe in alabama, about 85 miles away from his home in nashville, tennessee. behind bars right now, a woman, tammy silas, she's facing kidnapping charges. and you would think the little baby would be home right now with his mom. reunited after this traumatic attack. but the state of tennessee has taken the little guy away, put him and her other kids, ages 3, 9, # 1 in foster care. we'll get to all that. joining us to talk about it, we

welcome back the detective for the prosecutor's office. also with us, michelle, clinical psychologist with mom logic.com. all right. brian, we're somewhat baffled by this obviously that not only the little baby, but the three other kids not with mom in foster care. what has to be seen here for this to take place? again, after such a traumatic event. >> it could be a lot of things. it could be the state of the mom that maybe they feel because of the trauma she went through, that she's needs a little bit of a break. but it could have nothing to do with this incident. the condition of the home or some other reason they want to make sure these kids' interests are protected. don't forget, even if this didn't happen, if youth and family services agency came in and recognized the situation that they didn't feel was the best for those children, they would take the kids out of there. we can't necessarily link the two. >> let's talk -- we're so thankful the little guy was found okay. found well in the state of alabama. and brian, i've got to talk to

you about great police work here. they tracked, what, a rental car, and they used a cell phone to kind of get the ball rolling on this? >> once again, great police work and another great use of technology. you know, apparently she gave a cell phone number, i believe, when she rented that car. and they were able to use technology to trace who the cell phone was registered to, and where and when it was used. and it led it right to her. it was great police work combined with great use of technology. >> michelle, as we talk about this, it seems like the typical plan. she even told her boyfriend, i'm going to adopt a baby, while her evil plot was being con toctd, right? >> right. she also, from the news reports, had baby clothing, in the home and was really prepared to, quote unquote, adopt a child. >> michelle, let me ask you. we're not certain on this, but how long do you think she, number one, had the plan going, and number two, really zeroed in on the mom in this case, maria

ga rul la? >> we can't know exactly. but it sounds like it had been at least a few months, given the news reports. and honing in on the particular child, again, i think the ethnicity of the child was important. and we don't really know exactly how she had found this particular victim. >> and brian, when we look at this, this is not an unheard-of plot, to michelle's point, where someone will target someone who is newer to the country. they may not speak english. that seems to be the case here. is that what you're seeing as well, there are certain communities targeted for something like this? >> typically these women who plan on committing an abduction of an infant, they first formulate this plan in their mind, how am i going to do it. this was just something within her realm of her world. she disguised herself as a member of immigration. these people were spanish

speaking, and they were from another country. and she took advantage of that. but it could have just been another giz. we see women around the country who commit all types of frauds to commit these abductions from people's homes. >> clearly she was looking for someone who was a vulnerable victim. and that clearly is the case. >> absolutely. that's what they could. they take advantage of the opportunity. typically there's no violence done to the child. but a lot of times it's done to the mother as in this case. >> yeah, stabbed eight or nine times. michelle, it was striking that when little baby yair is picked up, a t-shirt on him that says, mommy loves me. i mean, does it just click in that quick? >> the women that do these kinds of crimes, really start to become delusional. you know, like you said, they formulate the plan in their mind. it's about -- and i would suspect it also is about keeping some sort of relationship going. we may hear more about that,

with her boyfriend. who i believe was of spanish descent, or latin descent. so again, sort of trying to find the perfect fit for the child. >> yeah. and we're going to name the little baby yair after him. you could be on to something there, to please the boyfriend and keep him around. to keep him around, to basically trap him. >> brian, i want to hit on one last thing here on an investigative front. the fbi saying the mom, who had been attacked, overheard a statement, let me read it here, and basically she heard someone in spanish, the alleged abductor here saying the job is done. do you see that this person was working with someone else? that would go against the norm, right? you figure you keep the plot to yourself and take baby as your own, right? >> certainly they're going to want to interview her boyfriend. i'm sure they're going to be doing that, and have done that methodically. and try to use technology to trace where that call went to. what was the origination of that phone call? where is the historical data it could lead them to?

it certainly looked like she was talking to somebody. maybe somebody helped her prepare for this abduction. got her inside information and how to plan it. >> we've got to leave it there, guys. thanks so much. a respected judge here, accused of having sex with male inmates in exchange for leniency?

welcome back. right now, a former judge is on trial accused of forcing male inmates to have sex with him. prosecutors say judge herman thomas agreed to a spanking or be thrown back in jail. he exchanged sex for leniency.

sodomy, sex abuse, kidnapping, assault, extortion. 15 inmates are ready to testify. court records show investigators even found physical evidence from an inmate in the judge's office. joining us to talk about, robin sacks. and judge david young, the host of judge david. judge, let me start with you on this one. quite the story here. but how difficult will it be to prosecute a judge, and do it with, what are we talking about, 15 felons here? >> not only 15 felons, but you also have forensic evidence. it seems if you're going to prosecute a judge, you better have your is dotted and ts crossed. i think they've done that. there's so much evidence against this guy, it's unbelievable to read. >> robin, do you think this will take to prosecute a judge? do you think the evidence is so overwhelming, it won't be? >> clearly the evidence is definitely overwhelming. this is something that the public is not going to like to

see, seeing a judge acting corrupt, extortion. i think a jury is going to be open, looking with open arms at a convicting someone in a place of power, actually. >> let's listen to the judge's attorney, bob clark. again, zeroing in on the fact that they're going to use convicted felons to nail this judge. let's listen. >> they want to bring out convicted felons and say evil things about the judge that gave them 30 years. damn, that would be a shock, wouldn't it. >> no surprise there, judge david. >> no. >> is that his only argument? is that a good one for a jury? >> no, i think it's the only thing he has basically. when the dna evidence comes back that there was dna of a defendant in the judge's chambers, you can't ask for any better evidence than that. you know, juries have a low tolerance, as robin said, for corrupt public officials. there's going to be no sympathy

heard by those jurors. as a matter of fact, they're going to be disgusted like i was disgusted. it was outro jus. >> we have the first accusation back in 2001, and that was it. i'll help you out with the case in exchange for sex. those lawsuits dropped. it doesn't seem, and we're still doing research, that he was red flagged at that point. why do you think that? do you think folks thought, that's just a felon talking, we'll move on? >> that happens all the time that we discredit the words of a felon. i think if you hear exactly -- you're going to see these felons coming forward, admitting, they're going to to the brick the boil type of approach here. they're going to say, i'm a felon, i did these bad things and i'll tell you about those bad things openly which will give them credibility in terms of the juries. plus the embarrassment of some of these sexual acts that they had to go through. >> judge david? >> i also think you're going to see that those individuals got sentence x and those people that

did not have sex with this judge got sentence y. disparity of sentencing. where the jury will say, wait a minute, why did this guy got two years for burglary and the other guy got 30 years? >> exactly. i think another point, going along with that, is that he's taking over cases without the approval of other judges. i guess to get at these guys, that's the way it sounds like. how does that happen? >> well, sometimes judges are overenthusiastic about their job. they're really excited to be a judge. he was a first-year judge when all this started happening. so you can understand it. but when you see what he's done, it's amazing a red flag was not raised a lot sooner with this guy. i served on the judicial qualifications for several years. some inmates make allegations. they're brushed aside like nonsensic al. but when you have one, two, three, the jqc should have had some type of investigation. this guy is a terror.

>> robin, as you look at this, and the way we're piecing this together is, is the judge would check these guys out of jail and have, quote unquote, private meetings. i believe his explanation was he was mentoring them. isn't that a -- is that the norm? help us out here. >> no, absolutely not. that is a definite red flag. any judge, or any public official that takes too much of an interest in any one particular person, any one particular case, you have to look at it in comparison to all the other cases and norm in terms of what is the culture in that community. granted, there are great judges who take an interest. when you start finding there are removal orders like a non-court date, and yet an inmate is removed from custody and brought in to a courtroom, you have to wonder why is that happening and start putting these together. unfortunately you see it after the fact when you start looking back in retrospect. >> judge david, being a judge yourself, i'll pose this to you. you look at the community, it sounds like that this judge was using it as a positive, that he

cared for these inmates. >> if he cared for them, why did he do it in his chambers with no one around. i care for the inmates in my courtroom. i have a program that got hundreds of people back off the drugs and to school. i had them come before me in a public forum so i could speak to them one on one. by bringing somebody back in the chambers, that just -- horrendous. absolutely horrendous. >> i'm sure you're really stating the feelings of many of our viewers out there. robin, judge, we appreciate it. thanks again. a man accused of killing his ex-wife's family. a story we brought you, a brutal killing in a small illinois town. well, now, the ex-son-in-law, he is the accused.

welcome back. finally an arrest in a brutal family murder. remember the story, family of

five, killed in their illinois home. a small town in illinois. all savagely beaten to death. dad, stay-at-home mom, children. even a toddler was beaten. sole survivor in this attack. we're finding out the prime suspect is a former son-in-law. christopher harris was once married to an adult daughter. she was not involved here. here's nicole gee's myspace page. she's the adult daughter. not hurt in any way in this attack. they recently had a baby together. now she's defending him on her myspace blog. we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. let's bring back brian reich. and also back with us, ryan denham, online news editor at the bloomington pantograph. what makes them believe it's christopher harris here? >> they have some kind of strong forensic evidence that they've talked about in press

conferences. they haven't been specific. also, he was the owner of a gray pickup truck that is somewhat similar to one that was seen in the small town the night before the bodies were found. so those two things apparently are pointing police toward him. >> did he go to the funeral of the family? >> he did go to the funeral. actually, he's visited the lone survivor in the hospital with his ex-wife. >> wow. brian, we always look to those closest in a case like this. we're talking about a small illinois town, about 200 people in this santa monica community. we knew it was somebody that the family knew. we figured that anyway. it still shocks us when it's a family like this. >> yeah. absolutely. you know, there's a couple of indicators when you look at this scene that will tell you it was somebody close to them. the blunt force trauma. the passion that was involved in that. typically when you see blunt force trauma and the type of violence struggle, that was involved in this type of homicide, you've got to say it's going to be someone close to them.

someone that had a personal vendetta, some type of grudge. and i think the evidence is going to be overwhelming. if they have dna evidence, there's sure to be blood and hair and fibers to be used against this guy. >> they're on again, off again. brian, i'll go to you on this one. the easy motive, they just had a baby. 8-week's old son. maybe they're getting back together. the family disapproves. is that what could lead to rage like this is this. >> you know, you don't know what these guys -- this guy looks like he was a little bit disorganized in the way in which he did it. didn't seem like he brought a particular weapon into the scene. it wasn't very planned. obviously he left a lot of evidence around. looked like he was crazed. it could have been some type of rage building up. but it looked like after it was over he tried to make a semblance to it, attended the funeral. i think it's going to be hard to speculate what his motivation

was. it's certainly going to be something personal against somebody in that family. >> ryan, what is the talk and motive here? >> that's the thing, we just talked to his mother, who could speak to his relationship with rick gee, the father of the family. they got along pretty well. he actually worked for rick gee's stepfather in the construction business. he's been in and out of that house for years, in terms of what kind of physical evidence he's leaving there, him being in the house would be pretty normal. >> when we speculate that maybe there was some angst about them getting back together, we're not seeing that? that there was a decent relationship between him and the family? >> at least not from the writings of nicole and chris on myspace and facebook. not talking about any hostilities. >> we'll hit on that when we come back. the adult daughter of those killed, the ex-wife of the accused, speaking on myspace, defending this guy. we'll let you see that and take your calls at 1-877-tell-hln. they said it would never last.

but it's been two months, and you're still going strong. glade lasting impressions. two fragrances alternate to keep things... fresh and exciting day after day. - and not just for 30 days. - ( inhales deeply, sighs ) but for 60. it's the longest-lasting plugins ever. get freshness that won't fade away for 60 days. ahhh! with plugins lasting impressions. and yes, it's glade. s.c. johnson, a family company.

david letterman, well, the word is out again. he let it out there. national tv. about the sex ka pads, at work -- i don't know if it was at work. people that worked for him. no surprise. we're learning more now, specifically about the young women he has reportedly been with. this all started, again, as an alleged extortion plot. accused of blackmailing letterman, wanting $2 billion. just minutes ago the associated press reported halderman got this information straight from his ex-girlfriend's diary. stephanie burkett was even in

some of the -- of the late night skits. "the new york times" say burkett had a sexual relationship with letterman. we have not confirmed that. take a listen to halderman's attorney defending his client on nbc's "today" show. >> david letterman didn't give his side of the story. the david letterman gave what he wanted the public to know. he wanted to get out ahead of the story and that's exactly what he did. he's a master of manipulating audiences, that's what he does for a living. to think david letterman gave the entire story, there's nothing more to be said is simply wrong. >> what do you have to say about this? we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. joining me to talk about it, carol jenkins, president of the women media center. also back with us, robin sax, a former prosecutor. robin, you hear from halderman's attorney. from what we're hearing, halderman does not look good, and looks pretty guilty. but what more could be to the story that would exonerate

halderman in some way? >> well, right now, the only thing that i think that halderman could be holding back right now is that there was some sort of unfair advantage, some favor, some credit to a sexual harassment claim that may or may not be coming down in the future, that people have not wanted to come forward with because of letterman's place in authority and there could be some sort of sexual harassment claim. that's the only thing i think he could possibly have brewing. everything else is pretty stacked against him. >> robin, i'll stay with you and then get carol in. as far as letterman, obviously this is not good for him. but he's made the good moves, it would seem, hen he goes on, and as the attorney said, gets out ahead of the story. now we're hearing david letterman apologized in the taping of the tonight show and to his wife and the women implicate by this scandal. again, he's out in front of it. that's what you have to do in a case like this, right, robin?

>> that's right. being trans parent is the words of the century right now. manning up, saying it like it is. that's what we want to see. that's what we want to see polanski doing, that's what we want to see everybody doing. that's what letterman did, to his credit. i don't think a partnership in recent history that had a sex scandal, and came out and told it like it was, and took responsibility. at least he did that, which is always going to help in the court of public opinion. >> yeah. >> carol jenkins, let's let you in on this. again, transparency is what we want. but i don't think david letterman's completely in the clear. >> i don't. i think that his announcement on that first show was so bizarre. it's one of the most bizarre episodes in modern media history. to have someone come out in the middle of what most people thought was a joke, and talk about having sex with his staffers. he would have been much better off had he had a news conference and done something serious. but to try to step forward like this, to try to bamboozle his

way with his fans. you had hundreds of people in the audience and millions who are watching who were caught laughing at a very serious story. so, you know, david letterman did not get out ahead of any kind of story, because all of the talk now is about, wait a minute, did i just laugh about a boss having sex with his female staffers, more than one, several? you know, so that i think, no, i don't buy into this. this was a great public relations -- i think it was a disaster. >> we want to hear from you, 1-877-tell-hln is the number. carol, you mentioned it. let's listen to it again. this is the announcement from david letterman. i was baffled myself when i heard the applause and the laughter when he made the announcement. >> the creepy stuff was that i have had sex with women who work for me on this show. now, my response to that is, yes, i have.

i have had sex with women who work on this show. and would it be embarrassing if it were made public? perhaps it would. perhaps it would. especially for the women. >> there it is again. david letterman making the joke there. carol, do you think -- was the audience cheering his behavior there? >> i think the audience was completely baffled. and what the result of that was making fun of -- so far as i could tell, all young women in the workplace. this was a joke. and extended laughter. and i'm not so much -- we're not the moral police here, the legal police here. we are talking about the media exposure of this particular kind of story. and about other young women who are in the workplace who are going to stand up for them. he has released statements saying he's broken no rules of

his production company. but in many workplaces, david letterman would have been fired on the spot. if there was a relationship between two people in the same office, in some workplaces, one of them has to leave. and i think that, you know, david letterman has not done us any favor, except to open up this issue, to open up the discussion of workplace ethics. and what bosses can and cannot do. and what young women, if they choose to have these relationships, as it seems it has happened in this case, that's one thing. but what about the -- we don't know the untold numbers of women who are placed in these ridiculous situations, where they're afraid not to say yes, and the other women who are not engaged in this, are afraid their careers are going to be side tracked. it's very unwholesome. david letterman is a grown man. >> the sense that david letterman is the boss, robin. we don't have the full confirmation, but at the time of these relationships, he's in his 50s, they're in their 20s.

and are there policies against that in many workplaces, robin? >> there are. in many workplaces there are. when you have the situation with the subordinate, you always have a situation where it could be perceived as per se harassment. but this is not a sexual harassment claim right now. what this is is an extortion claim. this wasn't the women coming forward talking about sexual harassment. this is david letterman legitimately named as the victim in a criminal action. i think my tune and other people's tune would be a lot different in terms of what happened had this been a sexual harassment claim. but we haven't seen that. >> coming up, much more on this. we want to hear from you. call in, 1-877-tell-hln. we're finding out david letterman has apologized in full to his staff, and to his wife.

he poked fun of himself. the funniest was the girl fr from -- how this woman was surrounded by young talent. he said no, not that. poked fun at himself a few times. >> that just coming in to us. audience members from today's

taping saying david letterman has apologized to the women he works with, and for the first time he todd about his wife in this whole work sex scandal mess. here's an excerpt from tonight's late show. quoting here now. now the other thing is my wife, re jina. she has been hor pli hurt by my behavior. and when something like that happens, it can hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try and fix it. remember, letterman was not married at the time. let's keep that in mind. a lot of you fired up about this one. now's your chance to get in on the conversation. taking your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. george is with us in new york. hey, george, your thoughts here? >> caller: yes. >> go ahead, george. >> caller: you ready for my comment? >> go ahead. fire away. >> caller: yes, i do feel david letterman should be fired of the whenever an employer suggests a date with an employee, there's a little pressure. you want to get advanced. you want to be thought of favorably.

and you know that if you refuse, you will not go any further in that area. >> so you're thinking workplace -- that he took advantage of his power. we have an e-mail from janet in massachusetts. kind of going along with that writing. he was in a position of power and he abused his status and authority. he indicates that he was a victim of extortion, but the real victims are those women who had sex with him. all right. that's one viewpoint on this. let's get another viewpoint. natasha in massachusetts, what are your thoughts here? >> caller: my thoughts on the situation, i feel like, okay, yes, that was wrong. he has a wife. but he's not the president. honestly, i think that's a perm issue him and his wife should take up. the women were not raped. they were not held against their, you know, held against their will. if that was the case, they would have went to authorities their self. i think they're making too much of an issue out of this. i think they need to give the man some credit and said, yes, i was wrong, i apologize. and this is a matter that me and my wife should handle.

i think that's exactly how it should be. >> you think -- you're saying it's wrong they had the workplace relationships? >> caller: yeah, i think -- >> that he's handling it by coming clean right now. >> caller: who's to say, you know, things happen in the workplace. who hasn't had a crush or a kiss or a hug or something inappropriate in the workplace. but i think that it's a fine line between rape and, you know, something being wrong. he didn't hold these women -- you know what i'm saying? >> got you. natasha, thanks for the call. this e-mail from steve in chattanooga. as far as i can tell, david letterman is an adult. what he does in his spare time with another consenting adult is no one's business but theirs. we're getting split down the mid dd here, what you're saying. another call in. morgan in nevada, go ahead. >> caller: hi. >> hi, morgan. >> caller: how are you? >> good. >> caller: good. i think it's disgusting what happened. i really do.

>> hey, we've got three-way calling going on here. technology is amazing. so morgan, you take issue with this? >> caller: oh, i do definitely. i think they all know what they were doing. he's not the only one who's had, you know, affairs. but having a girlfriend and cheating on her, i think that was absolutely wrong. absolutely wrong. >> do you watch him? >> caller: no, i do not. >> you're not going to start obviously now. >> caller: absolutely not, mike. i think it was wrong from day one. and the girls were as much at fault as he is. >> morgan, thanks for the call. and your friend can have the phone back, by the way. another call in. jack in michigan, go ahead. >> caller: hi, mike. thanks for taking my call. >> yeah. >> caller: i am not a late night talk show person. but it seems like lately in the news, all you hear is about these people having affairs. if it's consensual, there was no sexual assault, no rape.

then leave the people alone. this needs to be covered because of the extortion crime. but, you know, that's a personal thing between him and his wife. and i am really getting sick of hearing about all these affairs on the news. >> got you. >> caller: if they're not doing anything illegal, it's nobody's business. >> our guest, carol jenkins, she brought up the whole workplace issue here, that it -- let's face it, that it creates. david letterman, is boss, and these young ladies that work for him. so you're saying that has sparked that conversation. are you okay with that, or not, jackie? jackie's gone. okay. adri adrian, how much time do we have left? okay. let me read a little bit more of david letterman's statement. you wonder obviously about how's his wife doing with all this? they have a cute little guy, harry, their son. let me read a little more of david letterman's statement. let me finish it up, saying, the other thing is, my wife, she has

been horribly hurt by my behavior. when something happens like that, if you hurt a person, it's your responsibility to try to fix it. at that point there's only two things that can happen. either you're going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you're going to fall short perhaps and not get it fixed. so let me tell you, folks, i've got my work cut out for me. obviously david letterman showing regret here. and it's been great to get your thoughts on this one. some say, why are you covering this one. it sparks a conversation about not only the extortion part, extortion issues. thank you for your calls, e-mails, texts, facebook as well. another story that has many talking, cops finally make an arrest. we have ap accused creep videotaping erin andrews. somehow he was able to track her down, call up a hotel and say i want the room next to erin andrews. and he got it.

welcome back. it's appalling, that story of the espn reporter, erin andrews videotaped naked in her hotel room. cops have arrested this sicko. it was not someone she worked with. 47-year-old michael barrett accused of calling more than a dozen hotels, booking a room next to andrews. altering the peep hole, that's how he got his jollies here it seems. let me bring in jane velez-mitchell, host of "issues" with jane velez-mitchell, coming your way in a little more than ten minutes. let's start there, jane. that is infuriating when someone can call, give me the room next to erin andrews. >> it's terrifying. of course, there have been a lot of stories recently in the news of problems involving hotels. you have the craigslist killer and others. it does make you wonder. the essex house, there was a

murder there. that's one of the finest hotels in the world. so you do have to wonder, all these open spaces, and open places. universities, hotels, now because we live in such ago. there is no safe haven, especially if you are a woman. that's why on "issues" we talk about this war on women. this is the perfect example of it. why is this guy out? why is this guy allowed to go to his job when the prosecutors said they believed he was a danger to other women? this is a perfect example of minimizing a crime against women. >> well-put, jane. a danger to other women, we are led to believe there are videos of other women as well. it wasn't just erin andrews who prosecutors say he was obsessed with. it does sound like this guy is a menace. with that said, what is he, the unassuming insurance executive, that's what we're led to believe. that's the portrayal of this guy. we hit it on that front but how does a hotel give up the room next to erin andrews?

of course she has fans. there are going to be some guys that want to get close to someone like that. how do you not protect her if you're the hotel? >> the irony is that every time i have gone to a hotel and tried to find a friend they said we can't tell you that. i'm supposed to meet my friend, can you at least connect me to her room. we can't tell you that. so sometimes they go overboard in one direction but with something like this, where obviously you do not want to give some stranger, no matter what they say, and he could have come up, we don't know, hypothetically, somebody can come up with a story, hey, i'm an assistant and i've got to be there and i was supposed to have the room next door and people make up stories, and they influence people who are low-level employees who have to make decisions. >> yeah. in this case, i couldn't imagine the fear she had. jane, i know you'll have more on this coming up. we'll be watching "issues" at the top of the hour. stay with us.

tonight, earth-shattering allegations as the plot thickens in the david letterman sex scandal. the lawyer for the man accused of trying to extort $2 million from the late night legend claims there is a lot more to this story. meanwhile, "the new york post" claims letterman had a secret bedroom inside his television studio. so is this an innocent little place to crash, or a full-blown secret sex pad? and missing in malibu. what happened to mitrice richardson? she vanished three weeks ago after being arrested for not paying a restaurant tab. tonight, we're going to get the family's reaction to allegations they were given the opportunity to pick her up before she was

arrested. the restaurant owner told "issues" the family wanted to teach her a lesson. tonight, the family says they want to set the record straight as the frantic search for this young woman stretches way beyond malibu. also, the nypd drunk driving case now blowing up in the face of police. an off-duty cop is accused of mowing down an innocent woman while boozed up behind the wheel. now yet another cop has been suspended. was there a cover-up? were cops on the scene more concerned about their boy in blue and delaying his alcohol test than they were about justice? plus, disturbing insight into an alleged serial stalker, a man's been charged with videotaping erin andrews inside her hotel room. police say he had eight nude videos of the sports reporter and he followed her around the country. so how did this creep allegedly do this? we'll have all the nasty details. "issues" starts now.

tonight, a flurry of stunning developments in the david letterman sex extortion scandal. the associated press citing a law enforcement source is reporting that the accused extortionist, a cbs "48 hours" producer named joe halderman, uses pages straight from the diary of his ex-girlfriend, who is also david letterman's female assistant, to allegedly blackmail david letterman for $2 million. over the weekend, cops raided the cbs offices of this high-powered tv producer. they were looking for the original diary and other documents detailing the rumored sexual affair between david letterman and this woman, who until recently, lived with this cbs producer accused of extortion. but cops reportedly came up empty-handed. what a shock. not. come on, did they really expect to find something? i mean, hypothetically speaking, who would ever keep the most incriminating evidence of an

alleged extortion in their desk at work? at cbs? meantime, the emmy award winning producer charged with first degree attempted grand larceny has gotten himself one of the country's toughest criminal defense attorneys and i mean tough. gerald shargel who got alleged organized crime boss john gotti off the hook for murder in '91. did the morning show tour and here is what he told abc. >> i'm here to say not so fast. the mere fact that david letterman got on television and gave his version, which wasn't very complete but gave his version of what he claims occurred, the fact that assistant district attorney stood up in court or that the district attorney himself had a press conference, it's not time to say turn off the sets, the case is overwhelming. >> oh, this is getting ugly. the question is for whom? what is overwhelming, anyway? the amount of speculation swirling around other women also

former letterman employees alleged to have had sexual relations with the charismatic, brilliant funny man and that begs the question what will go down tonight on the late show? here's what one audience member said after today's taping. >> -- three or four occasions. the funniest was the girl from "glee" was on and she was saying she was surrounded by a lot of young talent and he said oh, no, not that. poked fun at himself a few times. he was a good sport about it because you know he will take a beating. >> bottom line, he apologized to his wife. tonight's big issue, will the exposure of david letterman's dirty laundry hurt or help his career? i want to know what you think about all this. straight out to my fantastic and i mean fantastic panel, mark eig

eiglarsh, criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, lisa bloom, cnn legal analyst, darren kavinoky, criminal defense attorney, aka the voice of reason. terry lyles, psychiatrist and a.j. hammer, host of hln's "showbiz tonight." a.j., dare we ask what is the very latest? >> well, the very latest is david letterman, you will see him on the late show tonight, if you happen to tune in, apologizing to his first long-time girlfriend, now wife, mother of his son. david apologizing to her and saying he has a lot of work cut fourth him. he said she is very angry, obviously, about what has happened because a lot of people have been wondering what the timeline of all this was. late last week, we did learn that any of these alleged affairs took place before dave and regina were married but everybody was perhaps speculating that they had some kind of arrangement, maybe they saw other people. now we know she's angry. so there's a lot to be handled as far as that is concerned. >> here's an excerpt of what

dave said during tonight's taping. quote, i just wasn't thinking ahead. that's the understatement of the century. my thanks to the staff for once again putting up with something stupid i've gotten myself involved in. my wife regina has been horribly hurt by my behavior. you think? let me tell you, folks, i got my work cut out for me. i think i have to go to the other female on the panel, lisa bloom. it's hard to know what it's like to be a woman, but to be a woman in this situation, to hear about all these alleged trysts and rumored affairs, how hard is it to be david letterman's wife tonight? >> that's got to be very difficult for her, and let's not forget about the other group that he apologized to today, his staff, because frankly, what goes on between david and his wife is their business, and i don't really care. but i do care about the workplace issues. i care about whether he put

other employees in an awkward position by appearing to give favoritism to women he was having sex with, who were his subordinates. i think that's really the issue here. i mean, i have talked to people who were concerned that, for example, stephanie burkett was on the air week after week. everybody wants to be on the air and you get extra payment when you're on the air. >> you get famous, too. you get famous before you get infamous. i want to talk more about this issue of sexual harassment and discrimination. here's what letterman had to say about the women caught up in the scandal. >> would it be embarrassing if it were made public? perhaps it would. perhaps it would. especially for the women. >> good joke. but there's a serious aspect to all this. a former intern of letterman's from the '90s told tmz quote, i was madly in love with him at the time. i would have married him. he was hilarious, end quote. proving that a good sense of humor is the best aphrodisiac of

all. we have heard nothing from the woman whose diary is at the heart of this blackmail scandal. meanwhile, worldwide pants says dave is not in violation of their policy, nobody's complained and that it's okay to have relationships as long as they're not tied to performance. but here's my question, mark. title seven of the federal law that prohibits workplace harassment and discrimination makes it unlawful to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, privileges, blah, blah, blah, based on other things including sex. >> discrimination? harassment? i'm not hearing any of those facts, jane. are we changing the facts to make this more juicy? he had affairs -- >> oh, let's debate the issue. en garde. >> i'm not suggesting it was a strong choice, like clinton, to go where he works.

i don't advise that. however, i'm not hearing about any harassment. i'm not hearing about discrimination. >> may i chime in as a sexual harassment lawyer on this point? because there is strong case law that employees who are not sexually involved with the boss can raise a claim if their co-workers are sexually involved with the boss, because it creates a hostile work environment, potentially. >> i didn't say it was a good idea, lisa. lisa, i didn't say it was a good idea. i'm just saying no one has filed anything. it hasn't happened. >> i know nobody's filed anything but terry lyles, you're the psychologist. if you're seeing that women who have a tryst with david letterman suddenly start appearing on the show when he does those funny segments where he goes to a deli and we know stephanie, we have seen the video of her appearing on those segments. if you're the other woman sitting there who isn't having the relationship with david letterman, are you thinking hm, i'm getting you-know-whatted but not in that way? >> i think what you end up with is, you know, the whole

harassment thing is about power. we don't really know what happened. like was just mentioned, no one's raised any issues yet except for the extortionist but this isn't over yet so we're assuming it was pretty innocent and it was consensual but still a workplace. >> i'm talking about the feelings of the wichomen. that's what i'm talking about. what does it feel like to be the other woman? not talking about that kind of other woman. just talking about the woman who's going there doing her job? >> that's it. she feels discriminated against because she feels she's not having a leg up, so to speak, on the competition. that's what happens. as a result of that, she feels shunned, no doubt. that's where the workplace issue becomes an issue. >> boo-hoo. >> i don't want to do it at work. >> let me say this. let me say this. there's no one complaining yet. i know, listen -- >> you're right. >> you're a compassionate soul. everybody is so compassionate. he chose to have a love affair with these women and chose not to have a love affair with the others. >> think about what it takes to complain. think about if you're makes $10

and you have a plum job working on the david letterman show and you feel lousy about the fact that those who are sleeping with him appear to have gotten better treatment and made more money -- >> they have been? have they been? >> we don't know. how are we going to know that? >> are those the facts? assumes facts not in evidence. go ahead, voice of reason, let's hear what you have to say. >> thank you. i hate to interrupt the other y chromosome on the show. it's good to have brotherly support. >> oh, come o. >> david letterman is the scud missile that you have identified as this war on women that was apparently launched and the rest of us men didn't necessarily get the memo but it's been recorded in several reputable news organizations that the late show is actually a great place for women to work, as compared with, say, "48 hours" which is where the extortionist came from. >> all right, hold on. we got to go to break. but boy, i don't think -- it's easy for you guys to make fun of

it, because you haven't been in that situation. i have seen it in action. anybody who has been in the news business 30 years, i know what it's like to look at the girl over there and say i know what she's doing with the boss. all right? i've been there. >> we're just double agents in this war, jane. >> we're also taking your calls. 1-877-jvm says. 1-877-586-7297. coming up, a police officer connected to the alleged dwi cop killer investigation. suspended. but first, is dave letterman getting a fair public trial? are we being tough enough on this guy? who i happen to love. he's very funny, very talented. or are we being too tough on him? what do you say? >> my take on letterman is simple. all it does, any way, shape or form, you show how immature this country is when it comes to our sexuality.

a lot of it is about public relations, too, barbara. a lot of women out there could be identifying with this particular woman and not think it's so great to watch letterman. it's possible he's hurt himself in the industry a little bit. plus the fact that if he goes

down, so does his whole staff. in a way that's the end of the show. it's very reckless behavior. that's all. >> the fabulous joy behar on "the view" this morning. joy the host of her own show right here at hln. you can be sure she'll be talking about the scandal right here at 9:00 p.m. eastern. more from gerald shargel, from nbc's "today." listen to this one. >> i believe what he wanted the public to know, he wanted to get out ahead of the story and that's exactly what he did. he's a master at manipulating audiences. that's what he does for a living. so to think that david letterman gave the entire story and there's nothing more to be said is simply wrong. >> mark eiglarsh, what other possible part of the story could there be? what other possible part of the story? he's like you haven't heard the whole story. what other possible side of the

story could there be? >> oh, i don't know, like a defense or something, which he didn't say during his going on every television show. listen, i respect what he's trying to do. he wants the public to know don't judge the case like we normally do. there's more to it. but why don't you give us a little bit more. was this a "48 hours" under cover investigation he was doing on his own? tell us what this defense is. >> that's a good defense. that's a very good defense. >> we don't know. >> apparently, what it could boil down to, lisa bloom, is that he would say well, i was just trying to sell a screenplay, i wasn't trying to blackmail him. i had a great screenplay idea and i thought hey, he's going to pay for it. >> give me a break. first of all, david letterman is not in the business of buying screenplays and he definitely doesn't buy screenplays from someone who leaves threatening packages in the back seat of his car at 6:00 a.m. and demands payment within two hours. listen, gerry shargel is a terrific lawyer. he's got to explain this $2 million check. what he says so far is basically

my client wouldn't be so dumb as to have gotten an extortionist payment by check. the problem he has is that a lot of smart people do stupid things. see martha stewart, for example. so his client obviously lost his head, lost his girlfriend, lost the money to pay for his child support and his alimony. he was in over his head, he did something stupid. until the defense gives us something to work with, i will assume the facts are as letterman says they r. >> yeah, but shargel is doing a smart thing. shargel is doing a smart thing by keeping those cards close to his vest because it really doesn't make a lot of sense to try this case in the court of public opinion. you better do it in front of 12 people who can really make the real decision in a court of law. >> let me see the panel. >> isn't he doing more harm than good by not coming on air and saying my client didn't do this? i mean -- >> he's got to stall for time, try to think of a story. >> listen, let me go to another comment by this attorney, gerald shargel. it's short of ominous. it was a declaration on nbc today. listen. >> it's not only the motive,

intent and conduct of joe halderman. it's the motive, intent and conduct of david letterman as well. >> he has a reputation for a searing cross-examination. so my question, a.j. hammer, even if david letterman's the victim here, could he end up going down on a cross-examination where this attorney brings up all the embarrassing details of these sexual trysts? >> well, listen, i think big part of why letterman wanted to get in front of the story, as that attorney put it, was so he could have the upper hand. yeah, of course there could be a cross-examination but the fact is, you know, letterman will probably end up surviving this in any event. i still see that, you know, i flash forward to a year from now, two years from now, this will be a footnote in david letterman's wikipedia entry. i do not think this will be the defining moment in his career even though it appears that way right now. >> jane, let me tell you the significance of the embarrassing details. when they come to david letterman, the prosecutors, in an attempt to resolve this case

with a fair plea bargain, his folks will be more likely to give in a bit because he doesn't want to have to go through blistering cross-examination, where all this stuff can come out. >> right. >> i think it would be a better plea bargain. >> if a diary is detailed, you know and it's about sex, you know that there's got to be a lot more embarrassing details there. we can all use our imagination but it's not just sex. >> do we have to? bloom, bloom, what do we do? >> there's a whole lot of things you could talk about. enough said. thank you, fantastic panel. coming up, it's been almost three weeks since mitrice richardson disappeared. what do we know about her final hours? and why are her parents not buying it? then new details in a possible cover-up involving alleged drunk driving cop who fatally hit a woman with his car. don't want to miss this one. in my new book, "i want," i talk about how i fought an addiction to alcohol and got sober 14 years ago and turned my life around. now i want to hear your success story. what addiction have you overcome, how did you do it? send your e-mail or i-report to

me at cnn.com/jane if your story is selected, you could win an autographed copy of my book, "i want" and get a chance to meet me in new york. i would love to meet you. i want to hear your story of overcoming addiction.

outrage over the botched blood alcohol testing of an nypd cop has sparked a firestorm of accusations. was this a police cover-up? officer andrew kelly was allegedly drunk when he hit and killed an innocent woman more than seven hours, seven hours and 20 minutes actually passed before his blood alcohol was tested. it came back 0.00, meaning zero alcohol in his system. he's now been suspended and so is his cop buddy who was riding shotgun as a passenger that night. now the nypd has suspended a third officer, robert mcgin

allegedly slipped kelly a stick of gum and two bottles of water at the scene and a fourth cop is under fire, "the new york daily news" reports the latest cop on the hot seat is a female sergeant. the big question, did she help the officers stall and delay the test between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.? is all of this blowing up in the nypd's face? one person seemingly happy about this bungled blood test is officer kelly's own lawyer. listen. >> can you tell us the status of the andrew kelly case? >> oh, look what you're doing. you love to do that. >> just asking. >> at this point, for us, the case is brand new. we're investigating everything. we are not surprised, we knew what the blood alcohol results were going to be because we knew what he did that night or what he didn't do that night. >> that response to me is gross. a woman is dead here. a woman is dead here.

here's officer kelly in court, this photo from "the new york daily news." they report the cop's attorney passed a sympathy note to the victim's family. whatever. a grand jury begins hearing testimony on this case next week. straight out to attorney darren kavinoky. darren, so many twists in this case. first of all, your reaction to that attorney and his little dance. >> yeah, i'm thinking of that ron burgundy line, stay classy, san diego, and unfortunately, this guy didn't. i mean, it's a horrible, it's a horrible commentary as much as the lawyer's job is to look out for his client at all costs, it doesn't need to be done in that way. >> well, he was relishing this moment, oh, my gosh, have i got a juicy case and guess what, it all came back 0.0 so we're going to skate. that's what i got out of that. >> you know, certainly it doesn't look good. i think of that football analogy, it never looks good to spike the football in the end

zone when you are fortunate enough to make it to the end zone, you want to act like you've been there before. >> i want to ask about this. it's important. new york city police commissioner ray kelly originally said don't worry about the seven-hour delay, he said there's a special formula we use to figure out this cop's blood alcohol content. you want to hear what he has to say? let's listen for a second. >> there is a formula used in the analysis to make a determination as to what the state of intoxication was at the time of the event. >> guess what, he's wrong. when it's 0.0, you can't do that. >> yeah, that's exactly what i was going to say, jane. this is called retrograde extrapolation, where you look at somebody's alcohol level at a given point in time and using certain scientific theories, you're able to look backwards and make certain conclusions about what it would have been at the critical time, which is the time that they were actually behind the wheel. except the problem is, you can't do retrograde extrapolation when there -- >> there's no alcohol. >> exactly. exactly. >> thank you.

darren kavinoky, what do we know about missing california woman mitrice richardson? we're going to examine this huge controversy next.

the nypd drunk driving case, now blowing up in the face of police. an off-duty cop accused of mowing down an innocent woman while boozed up behind the wheel. now yet another cop has been suspended. was there a cover-up? plus, disturbing insight into an alleged serial stalker. a man's been charged with videotaping erin andrews inside her hotel room. police say he had eight nude videos of the sports reporter and he followed her all around the country. we'll have all the nasty details. tonight, new shocking allegations in that mystery in

malibu. it has been two and a half weeks, something like 17 days, since mitrice richardson vanished following her arrest at a swanky restaurant where she could not pay her tab. police released the 24-year-old in the dead of night, about 1:25 in the morning, alone. she had no car, no phone, no ride, and she has not been seen since. last week, the restaurant owner told "issues" mitrice's mother wanted her to get arrested so she could learn a lesson. listen to what the restaurant owner had to say. >> the mother said she's been hanging out with the wrong people and needs to be arrested. this would be good for her. she's not saying that now and of course i wouldn't say it now because her daughter's missing. we haven't talked about that because i don't want to be hurtful in this moment but if they're going to throw bombs at the sheriff and throw bombs at us, the truth needs to be out there. >> mitrice's family is here today to respond to those comments. then, there are the family's own accusations against police. they insist investigators are simply not doing their job.

>> this is my daughter, mitrice richardson. my daughter, a citizen, was failed by the authorities. they failed her. she is suffering some where because we believe she is still alive, but they're not doing enough to search for her. >> we called both the l.a. county sheriffs department and the lapd. they would not come on the show. but they told us there were no developments in the case. no leads. no new police searches. why is that? are police really doing everything they can to find this woman? or is there some kind of bad blood here? now to my guests, criminal defense attorney mike eiglarsh and we also have michael richardson. we're delighted to have michael richardson. mitrice's father. and the family's attorney, leo terrell. leo, what is your response to the comments you just heard from the restaurant owner and he also said that his staff offered to wait all night if the family would pick her up.

>> false, false and i got proof. first of all, the owner was not there, jane. secondly, i have the police report. i have the only comments made by the restaurant employees on tape. there is not a single shred of fact relating to that person's statement. the owner is not telling the truth at all. >> can i just say one thing? can i just say, he never said he was there. he said he was on the phone and that he was talking to his staff. so he was not there. he was talking to his staff. now, how do you know what conversations would have occurred between his staff and mitrice's mom? that would not have been taped at that point because this was not a missing persons case at that point. >> jane, you would expect those comments, if what he is saying is true, would somehow pop up in the police report. some where, because the police officers interviewed the employees at the geoff re's restaurant. not a single shred of statements like that at all. it's funny how he's made these comments 14 days later. i'll tell you why.

because it's bad pr that he has received at geoffrey's because other individuals who rang up thousands of dollars of food costs and bills unpaid, they don't get the sheriff's department over there calling them. >> i have to say something. i have to say we invited that gentleman who is the owner of geoffrey's back on to respond to these comments. we are trying to be fair. we are just trying to find out what happened to mitrice. that's what we're primarily trying to do. but again, i'm sure he has some response so he can come back and tell us what his response is to your response to what he said. but let me ask this question of the father and michael, mr. richardson, i understand that this is very tough for you and i really appreciate you coming on this broadcast, because i know this has got to be very painful. but we're trying to get to the bottom of this and my question to you is could a friend or acquaintance of mitrice's be involved in her disappearance? her mother insists she was not the kind of person that gets into trouble on her own so let's listen to what her mom said.

-- mitrice's mom was worried about her hanging out with the wrong crowd. michael, you have been quoted in published reports as saying mitrice has a shady friend who has been supplying her with marijuana. there was some small amount of marijuana that was allegedly found in her car. was she hanging out with a bad crowd? was she in crisis? >> well, i personally don't want to speculate. when those reports first came out, my job as a father was to reach out every one but once i calmed down and got a level head and started getting the facts and started doing my own detective work and my own research, i can't honestly say that. i cannot honestly point the finger. i can follow up with geoffrey's when i spoke to the manager that was on duty that night, and i spoke to him at least eight times, and never did john tell

me at geoffrey's that her mother told her this. the owner is just now getting involved. >> can i ask you this question? okay, this all happened, you know, in the evening i guess maybe 8:30, 9:00, something like that. she was released at 1:30 in the morning. and again, i'm saying this to try to solve this so we can move on to try to find out where she is. why wouldn't the family pick her up at some point between when this whole not being able to pay the bill came up and 1:30 in the morning as opposed to calling at 4:30? >> i can answer that question because we have the tapes in which the mother called the station and said she will pick her up. if you're going to let her -- if you're going to release her early in the morning. if you're going to keep her until the morning, i'll pick her up in the morning. that's on tape, jane. she kept calling, she said i don't want her walking out there. that's all on tape. so there was a sincere effort by the mother to pick up mitrice richardson if they were going to let her out.

have i have the tapes and we played them last thursday. there's a clear interest in the mother to pick her up, not to let her wander. >> that's documented about five times, jane. >> all right. mark eiglarsh, what do you make of this? obviously this is a he said/she said except it involves a missing woman. this is a tragedy potentially. we don't know what happened to this woman. you're hearing two totally different stories, one from -- actually, three. the sheriff, then the restaurant, and now you're hearing this family. >> it is tragic and my heart does go out to this family, even if she's found okay, the fact that you're without your loved one, i feel for you. but with all due respect, i think your anger might be a bit misplaced. jails are not responsible for people once they let them leave. in fact, had they kept her there, against her will, because they deemed it wasn't safe to let her out, when she was demanding to leave, then they would be outraged. how dare you hold her. >> you're absolutely wrong. absolutely wrong. you ever heard of 5150?

have you ever heard of a 5150, sir? >> are you running a 5150? >> have you ever heard of that, sir? if you don't, you don't know what you're saying. shame on you to say that on national television. >> let me just say this. what they're referring to is she had been speaking gibberish, according to some people, and acting strangely, and the family believes that she should have been kept on an involuntary hold. i want to say -- >> listen -- >> -- we will stay on top of this story. we're not going to let this go. i believe we're out of time on this one, right, director? yeah. i'm sorry. because i want to continue on this story. will you please come back? >> i hope they find her, bottom line. >> please come back. >> definitely. and jane, i know we're out of time, but i just want everyone to know this saturday, we'll be in front of lost hills protesting. we want geoffrey's out there. we want steve whit more out there so you can get the facts of what's going on. saturday, we'll be out there protesting. >> thank you so much. i hope we find your daughter. up next, reality tv mom kate gosselin slams jon for allegedly stealing from their eight kids. what? then, should the man accused

of stalking and secretly videotaping espn reporter erin andrews get bail? he did. i want to hear from you on this. he's out on the streets now. 1-877-jvm-says. 1-877-586-7297.

bail for the man accused of stalking espn's erin andrews? i'll be taking your calls on that but first, "top of the block" tonight. a jaw-dropping development in the jon and kate divorce saga. we mean jaw-dropping. reality tv star kate gosselin tells the "today" show that her soon to be ex jon emptied their bank account, leaving her just a few thousand dollars to pay bills. tmz reports that kate's lawyers were in court today to get the $230,000 back and filed a contempt citation against jon. so what about the couple's eight kids? we have heard jon say they want to quit the show, but kate claims they wailed and sobbed when filming halted. hm. it's a game of he said/she said. seems to be a theme tonight. which isn't anything new between these two. "issues" will, of course, keep you up-to-date on the very latest as these poor kids grow

up in the harsh spotlight. that is tonight's "top of the block." shocking new details about that man suspected of stalking and videotaping sports anchor erin andrews. police believe they've got their man and his name is michael david barrett. he was arrested at chicago's o'hare airport on friday. police think he is the one who stalked this beautiful woman, erin andrews, but listen to how he allegedly did it. he found out her work schedule and followed her around the country. he would stay in a hotel room next to hers and secretly videotape her. how does this happen? you would think somebody would notice this creepy guy but his neighbors didn't seem to have a clue. >> i have actually never seen him here, you know. i spend a lot of time outdoors walking the dog and so -- >> strange. >> wouldn't know him if i saw

him. >> most shocking detail of all, he was released on bail today. dan albertstone, you are erin andrews' attorney and you're with us along with the panel. we're delighted to have you. what do you make of the fact this guy was released? here on "issues" we talk about this thing called the war on women and to me, this is a perfect example of the war on women. this man was released on a very low bail, he's allowed to go back to work, he just has to come home after work and then wear an electronic monitoring device. the prosecutor said that he was a danger to other women. why is this guy out on the street, sir? >> well, that's a good question. obviously, we would have liked him to remain incarcerated but on the other hand, i think erin is comforted by the fact that he is basically confined to the northern district of illinois and can't travel out of that area.

so between the electric monitoring, the curfew and the travel restriction, i think we're comforted by that fact and erin is as well. >> i'm glad you're comforted but as a woman and i'll go to lisa bloom on this, i am concerned. i think this is a typical example, lisa, of minimizing a crime against a woman. >> absolutely. shame on our justice system for releasing this man who's accused of making eight illegal peephole videos of erin andrews, calling 14 hotels in milwaukee to find out where she is and having videos of other women on his computer. >> i disagree. >> are you kidding me? >> i disagree. >> -- but this is exactly the kind of person who's a dangerous predator potentially who needs to be locked up until he faces the music. >> see, i disagree, jane. let me tell you. >> can we debate the issue? >> jane? >> let me first say -- >> all right, mark. wait, wait, wait. mark. >> mark, hang on here. >> let me see the panel. okay. first, mark.

first, mark. first, mark. then darren. >> darren, she's letting me go first. okay. first, he's a creep. we can all agree on that. however, people don't understand, this isn't the plea bargain. this isn't the sentencing. it's to determine whether he can come back to court. and obviously, with full disclosure, the judge along with again, the government assistant, they look at everything and they determine -- >> dangerousness is a factor. >> let me go -- >> obviously his lack of priors won out. >> darren kavinoky, it's your turn. >> it has nothing to do with this being part of the war on women. if he had been videotaping the devastatingly handsome mark eiglarsh, it would have been the same result. there's got to be a sense of proportionality here. yes, the guy is a creep but what we're concerned with with bail is whether he's a flight risk, danger to community. >> dangerousness. >> hello. anybody who goes to this extent to tape a woman nude

is a danger to society. he hasn't been convicted and i don't want to convict him here but he's accused of this hideous crime and dan albertstone, tell me exactly, we don't want to show the videotape. we did a sketch because obviously, we don't want to violate your client again. but how exactly, to what lengths did he go to get into that peephole to see your client naked? >> well, based on what i know, and based on what's in the criminal complaint, and affidavit, he went to great lengths. i mean, besides the fact calling around and calling around to hotels and locating where miss andrews was, and then asking for a room right next to her, he basically manipulated the peephole, basically taking it out, hacking it in half in order to make it easily removable when he wanted to take out the peephole, so he could put his camera. >> jane -- >> wait a second. one second. i want to go to the caller who's been waiting a long time.

bob, kentucky, your question or thought, sir? >> caller: i don't understand how they can say he's not a flight risk. >> thank you. >> caller: he has the ability and he has the contacts. i mean, lot of the people he used to work for live in other countries now. i mean, his job details him going around the country to different motels week in and week out. i just don't understand. >> i want to go back -- quickly, lisa. i want to go back to dan. >> shame on the hotel for disclosing she was staying there and booking him a room right next to her, an alcove away from everybody else. don't they care about the safety and privacy of women staying in their hotel? >> hold on, lisa. >> hold on. >> i want to go back to dan albertstone. dan albertstone, you're erin andrews' attorney. how did he manage to do that? how is that in the complaint alleged? >> it's not difficult. >> you're not dan albertstone. dan albertstone. >> i -- >> how did he manage to get a room next to your client? allegedly? >> well, the way we understand it -- >> he asked. >> he called her -- that's

right. he called around, he asked if espn or miss andrews were staying at the hotel. he called all the area hotels. he had one hotel where an employee unfortunately gave out this private and confidential information and then asked, specifically requested a room next to hers, which obviously is very disturbing. >> well, if they gave out private and confidential information, that's troubling. however, this wouldn't be the first guy to find out, let's say, where lebron james is saying so when he comes out of his hotel room you're right next door and you have him sign a basketball. >> that's not how it happened, though. >> i understand. >> that's not how it happened. he specifically asked is she staying at the hotel? >> well, these would be great entities to join in a civil lawsuit so that some justice can be done if in fact these facts prove that to be true. >> if those are the facts. >> let me just say one thing. there are people who are very good at this. i mean, in the news business we used to have someone called the noodge and she could call and find out if someone was having a

wedding, blah, blah, blah. she had voices, she was this, that, and the other. so we have to also realize that there are some people who can manipulate brilliantly. everybody, stay right where you are. we're going to have more on erin andrews' stalker in a moment.

he's a great friend. that's what i can tell you. and i've gotten calls from 30 of his friends in the last ten hours, all willing to give their support to him if anything's needed. >> that is the defense attorney for the suspected stalker, michael barrett, who says this simply isn't true, he didn't do it. but you know, there is sometimes a pattern. and the pattern is that the absolutely normal people are sometimes accused of crimes. neighbors of this alleged stalker said he was a very quiet guy, he had a very normal, ordinary job, never got as much as a speeding ticket.

and take a look at another person that was in the news recently. george sodini. he's the one who shot up l.a. fitness. he seemed extremely normal, had a very steady job, but he was a social recluse. the suspect in the erin andrews video stalking case, an insurance job, middle-aged, divorced with children, just another typical guy next door. but like sodini, do we have to ask when somebody is considered absolutely normal, terry lyles, psychologist, when somebody is considered absolutely normal and their neighbors always say i never noticed him, he didn't speak, he had a tendency to keep to himself but he was absolutely normal, can that be a red flag? >> well, it can be. but it's like we're all normal until proven guilty. everybody's got some kind of weird in them, you know. i think what scares me is that everyone looks normal. i say normal is what you see in the mirror in the morning. all of us are a little weird. but when it crosses the lines, impedes on other people's space

like this crazy pervert peeping in holes -- i mean, i stay in hotels every week. it's like, what is going on here? so of course we all look normal to some degree. but everybody has skeletons. >> yeah. if michael barrett is convicted of being a sick peeping tom -- and remember, he hasn't been convicted yet, just accused. he had a lot of help from hotels. we've been talking about lax hotel security. it's nothing new. take a look at the alleged killer. in even in my own hometown of new york a hotel was a site of a murder. and now erin andrews. someone at a hotel apparently told barrett where to find andrews and unbelievably got a hotel room right next to her. dan albertson, you're erin andrews' attorney. are you going to file any kind of a lawsuit against the hotels involved? >> well, at this point erin is singularly focused on prosecuting, or having this -- the accused prosecuted and brought to justice. right now at this point in time she isn't really thinking about pursuing any civil action at this point.

>> sounds like a yes to me. >> let me ask you one other question, dan. how is she reacting to the fact that this guy, he was -- he's accused -- again, he hasn't been convicted but he's caught, now he's released on bail. you don't seem concerned, but boy, i was stalked once, and i tell you something, it's terrifying. it's really terrifying. >> right. you need to understand, when this came to light, two or three months ago, erin really believed, as we all did, that this was going to take a long time, if ever this person was going to be caught. so we really need to give a shout out to the first of all law enforcement officials, the u.s. attorney, wesshoe, and the special agents from the fbi los angeles office, who worked tirelessly in a very short period of time to locate this person. this person was caught videotaping in nashville, tennessee. all right? and somehow they figured out where this was. >> we have to leave it right there yes, we praise law enforcement when they do good

work, as they did on this case. remember, click on cnn.com/jane to preorder nur copy of my new book "i want."